Activists ‘fight against censorship’ in the largest US book bans: prisons; The Guardian, September 27, 2024

Olivia Empson, The Guardian; Activists ‘fight against censorship’ in the largest US book bans: prisons

 "In recent years the issue of book bans has become a major story in the US, often driven by socially conservative pressure groups, but nowhere has the impact of bans been felt more acutely than in America’s enormous prison population, activists and campaigners say.

Books can serve as vital connections to the outside world for incarcerated individuals, yet they are frequently censored in US prisons. Campaigners are advocating for public library catalogs to be accessible on carceral tablets.

“We are adults in these prisons, and we’re told that we can’t read this, we can’t read that, we can’t read this book, we can’t see that article, and we’re like, ‘For what reason?’” Stevie Wilson, who is currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania, told the Guardian.

“We need people out there to know that, and we need them to join us in our fight against censorship.”

Prison Banned Books Week – which has just ended – is one of many initiatives in the past few years that have sought to raise awareness about the rise of literary censorship in the US. While book bans in schools and public libraries are frequently reported on and widely acknowledged, relatively less is known about the extent to which literary censorship affects those imprisoned.

A Marshall Project report originally published in 2022 found that about half of states said they had book policies and lists of banned publications containing over 50,000 titles. Other states don’t keep lists, meaning books can only enter facilities on a case-by-case basis with inconsistent rules and little oversight."

A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids; NPR, November 25, 2023

Scott Simon, NPR; A new documentary shows the impact of book bans in Florida public schools on the kids

"In her directorial debut, Sheila Nevins' chronicles the impact of book bans in Florida public schools. She tells NPR's Scott Simon what inspired her to profile those most affected — the students...

GRACE LINN: My husband, Robert Nichol (ph), was killed in action in World War II, defending our democracy, constitution and freedoms. One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books that they banned.

NEVINS: And I thought, holy [expletive], this woman is out there doing something, and I'm doing nothing. And I know I'm only in my 80s, for heaven's sake. And here's this woman fighting for young people to be able to read the books that she read and I read and possibly you read, Scott, that in many ways change our lives and make us know about the world we live in. And I thought, I've got to grab her. I've got to get her. And I've got to get some of these kids who've lost the books or who have been deprived of the books to read them and to see how they feel about what they're missing.

SIMON: Some of the books that are mentioned in the course of the film that have been banned include "Slaughterhouse-Five," "Maus," "The Kite Runner," "The Life Of Rosa Parks," "The Handmaid's Tale." I can't come up with a better question than why?

NEVINS: Interesting, isn't it? Why would you deprive children of this information? If you want them to grow up to be like yourself, and yourself has a limited worldview - or at least the worldview that you believe is the worldview they should have - then you take out anything that you would find as questionable - Planned Parenthood, race, religious problems, difficulties. You know, you would simply want to make your child not aware of all these things that make the world a sort of wondrous, difficult, complex and often painful world that we all live in. I'm sort of quoting the kids, which is really odd. How can you deprive me - I'm 12 or 14 or 15 - of information?"

Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries; NPR, March 23, 2023

Tovia Smith, NPR ; Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries

"It hasn't gone unnoticed by groups behind the book bans that the more books are pulled from school shelves, the more they pop up elsewhere, like a game of whack-a-mole.

"One hundred percent it concerns me, says Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, a group that has been behind many of the bans. "I think it's so messed up that so many people want to show children all this explicit graphic content," she says.

As an organization, Justice says, her group is singularly focused on controlling the books in schools. But personally, she says, she hopes prosecutors will crack down on what she calls illegal distribution of pornography by activists outside of schools."

Column: Can scientists moonlight as activists — or does that violate an important ethical code?; Los Angeles Times, November 17, 2022

OPINION COLUMNIST, Nicholas Goldberg, Los Angeles Times; Column: Can scientists moonlight as activists — or does that violate an important ethical code?

Kalmus, Chornak and their colleagues believe it is their moral responsibility as scientists to help awaken society to the dangers of climate change, which include not just more of the raging storms, droughts, wildfires and heat waves we’re already experiencing, but very possibly famine, mass migration, collapsing economies and war.

I think they’re right. 

But as more and more scientists have become engaged in climate activism over the years, they have faced pushback from traditionalists who insist that scientists should be disinterested, impartial “seekers of truth” who keep their opinions to themselves, thank you very much."

Welcome to Chechnya’: Sundance’s Horrific ‘Gay Purge’ Documentary Every Human Must See; The Daily Beast, January 30, 2020

Kevin Fallon, The Daily Beast; 'Welcome to Chechnya’: Sundance’s Horrific ‘Gay Purge’ Documentary Every Human Must See

"Welcome to Chechnya, a documentary that debuted this week at the Sundance Film Festival ahead of a premiere on HBO this summer, has left audiences in Park City in shock, heartbreak, and outrage. Directed by David France, who previously helmed How to Survive a Plague and The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson, the film spotlights the crisis by following those brave few and the persecuted Russians whose lives they are saving by risking their own.

The film reveals an underground pipeline of activists working tirelessly to secretly remove at-risk LGBT+ Chechens and those who have survived being detained from the republic, transport them to safe houses, provide them with financial and psychological support, and help sneak them out of the country and find asylum...

The videos are horrific, the kind of atrocities no human should be meant to see. And it’s exactly why everyone must see it."

Is Ethical A.I. Even Possible?; The New York Times, March 1, 2019

Cade Metz, The New York Times; Is Ethical A.I. Even Possible?

"As activists, researchers, and journalists voice concerns over the rise of artificial intelligence, warning against biased, deceptive and malicious applications, the companies building this technology are responding. From tech giants like Google and Microsoft to scrappy A.I. start-ups, many are creating corporate principles meant to ensure their systems are designed and deployed in an ethical way. Some set up ethics officers or review boards to oversee these principles.

But tensions continue to rise as some question whether these promises will ultimately be kept. Companies can change course. Idealism can bow to financial pressure. Some activists — and even some companies — are beginning to argue that the only way to ensure ethical practices is through government regulation."

Activists: Chechen Authorities Order Families to Kill LGBT Family Members, Also Pay Ransoms; The Daily Beast, January 18, 2019

Anna Nemtsova, The Daily Beast; Activists: Chechen Authorities Order Families to Kill LGBT Family Members, Also Pay Ransoms

"Since 2017, Russian and international LGBT networks have managed to help 150 Chechen victims of violence escape to Western countries. To evacuate one gay person from Chechnya abroad, volunteers have to raise up to 4,000 euros ($4,544)."

Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption; Huffington Post, 12/9/16

Katherine Marshall, Huffington Post; Ethics in the swamp: the rot of corruption:

"Corruption is a live topic today. Since 2005, international anti-corruption day has been “celebrated” on December 9, in hopes that a visible day marking the topic can raise awareness about corruption and bolster a sense that something can be done to combat and prevent it. The large biannual International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC17) in Panama City ended on December 4, where some 1300 very diverse participants addressed a multitude of issues, from green eyeshade detail, lawyerly discourse, to lofty principles such as trust. The meeting concluded with a commitment that: “Together we will strengthen our web of anti-corruption activists. Together, the public sector, business and civil society will hold the corrupt to account. It is Time for Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust.” The activists, many part of Transparency International, come from all over the world, widely different in ideology and approach, but they share a gutsy determination to hold leaders to account.

More tellingly, corruption is a leading topic in political discourse, from Washington to Manila to Kabul to Nairobi to Abuja. The belief that corruption is pervasive drives much of the anger that we see reflected in extremist movements, secular and religious. It fuels the populist surge and the sense of rot that discredits governments and politicians in widely different countries and cultures. America’s political campaign featured narratives about a Washington swamp with bloated, rotten bureaucracies wasting or diverting public resources. The narratives can be misleading, undermining courageous political leaders and public servants, but many see little beyond stories about corrupt practices...

The next International Anti-Corruption Conference will be in Denmark in 2018. It’s time to mix the oil and water. Fighting corruption is about more than exhortation: declaiming against those who steal and fail to honor their public responsibilities. Anti-corruption strategies and practices can work. But only when the passion of activists and moral leaders comes together with different parts of society, religious institutions included, to translate anger and a desire for good governance into reality. The fight against corruption, for decent governance and strong public service depends on public morality and a common commitment to ethical standards and priorities. Draining the swamp depends on linking the best of religious and civic teachings to the realities of political leadership and governance. That’s what it will take to achieve “Justice, Equity, Security, and Trust”."

Summer Project Turns Into Leukemia Testing Breakthrough; New York Times, 11/28/16

Donald G. McNeil Jr., New York Times; Summer Project Turns Into Leukemia Testing Breakthrough:

'Gleevec, which made almost $5 billion for Novartis last year, has been at the center of a long battle between pharmaceutical companies and activists fighting price increases. The drug cost about $26,000 per year in 2001, and Novartis repeatedly raised the price even as competitors emerged; early this year, it was more than $120,000.

Those who support broader access to medicines argue that poor countries should reject patents and make generic versions of leukemia drugs. In 2013, India’s highest court struck down Novartis’s patent application for Gleevec, opening the way for generics. They now cost about $400 a year in India and about $9,000 in Canada."

60 percent of Russians think Internet censorship is necessary, poll finds; Washington Post, 11/18/16

Adam Taylor, Washington Post; 60 percent of Russians think Internet censorship is necessary, poll finds:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the country does not have the legal authority to ban websites. Though some smaller websites have been blocked at some points, experts doubted Russia had the capability to implement more widespread online censorship.

There have been a number of recent signs that the country may be rethinking its approach, however. In April, Konstantin Malofeev, a wealthy businessman with links to the Kremlin who runs the pro-censorship lobbying group Safe Internet League, traveled to China to meet with the architects of that country's notorious “great firewall.”...

Polling by Levada and other organizations in Russia has long shown widespread support for Internet censorship. According to a study conducted in May 2014 by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), 59 percent of Russians believed that websites that showed gay pornographic content should be censored by the government, while 46 percent said social networks that allowed people to organize anti-government protests should be censored and 45 percent said the videos by the anti-government art group Pussy Riot should be banned."

Chinese activist's family 'taken away' over letter calling for Xi Jinping to quit; Reuters via Guardian, 3/26/16

Reuters via Guardian; Chinese activist's family 'taken away' over letter calling for Xi Jinping to quit:

"A New York-based Chinese activist has said that China’s authorities have detained three members of his family in connection with an open letter calling for the resignation of president Xi Jinping.

Speaking from New York, Wen Yunchao said his parents and younger brother were “taken away” by the authorities on Tuesday and have disappeared, days after the government “harassed” his family over his suspected involvement in distributing the letter...

President Xi has embarked on an unprecedented effort to clamp down on the internet and censor opinions that do not reflect those of Communist Party leaders, including by imposing tougher penalties for what the Chinese government calls spreading rumours."